Fruit Stand Circuits

Spring is in the air and the fruit stands are starting to open up out here in California. So of course we were thinking about all the fun STEM projects we could do with the farmer’s best crops. Luckily, StemBox had my back. It’s a new hands-on STEM subscription box that inspires girls to get excited about science and engineering and they sent me their latest box with everything we needed to make lemon circuits, minus the produce. And my girl loved it! This post is sponsored by GreenWorks.

Lemon Circuits

First in the box was the lemon circuit project. My daughter had fun attaching the nodes (i.e. nails and wires) to each of the lemons. She then connected them all with alligator clips and got an LED to light up. We talked about how electrons were transferring between the zinc nail anode and the copper wire cathode. It takes an electrolyte to make the electricity happen, in this case the citric acid in the lemon (thank you StemBox for the easy to understand science explanation!)

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We tested how many lemons it took to get the LED to light up and then one by one we replaced each lemon with a different piece of fruit. Although you think of citrus fruits as having citric acid, other fruits actually have some too. We did notice that the LED got a little dimmer as we replaced the lemons with other fruits.

The box came with a cool fruit clock too. All you had to do was stick it into a piece of fruit to make it run. My daughter’s favorite was definitely the watermelon!!

Luckily the box came with some Green Works compostable wipes because that watermelon full of holes made a bit of a mess! But all that fruit made a great salad and lemonade… And I love that the wipes come from years of research on naturally derived cleaners, all led by a female scientist named Maria Ochomogo. And now they’re paying it forward by supporting StemBox’s initiative to help girls get excited by STEM.

Monthly STEM Projects for your Girls

We’re always on the hunt for another cool STEM project at the Left Brain Craft Brain house. So when StemBox reached out to me and asked if we wanted to try their new subscription box, I was all in. And not just because they have cool projects, but because they’re all about encouraging girls like my daughter to get excited about STEM. A portion of each StemBox goes to support The American Association of University Women which works to empower women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research. And I personally know that they do some amazing things!

The other reason I love it is because it’s hard to come up with a new project for the kids all the time, even as a blogger. So getting one in the mail that’s fun AND educational is totally awesome. Here are the details:

Each box has hands-on STEM experiments for girls ages 7-13 (but my daughter who is younger loved doing it with my help).

Each box is all-inclusive (ours even came with goggles and gloves.)

Pricing:

Month-t-month = $36 / box

3 month pre-pay = $29.33 / box

6 month pre-pay = $28.33 / box

Each box comes with an easy to understand science lesson to help your girls learn.